What other tour's are out there for the Hardcore touring pro? I think some folks out there aren't happy with the current PDGA model(being a professional organization that's mostly made up of ams). Good on him for attempting it._________________If you can't win the event in regulation, try, try, try again.

I agree that that PDGA model is flawed in the manner you describe and good on Jussi for doing this.

I just find he's catering to a very small % of DGers out there unless he's targeting a big explosion of AMs going Pro. If that's the case this could prove to be a huge move._________________Hyzer enthusiast

After seeing the golf at Brewster ridge and HOFC and comparing the quality to memorial or worlds I think the aim is to raise the bar on the course design for professional players so it is more interesting.

Big arm open courses are boring to play tournaments at and spectate as well. This has been talked about for some time and jussi has been leading this vocally.

I like the format. More of a focus on playing one course over 3 days as opposed to a handful of courses or several rounds in a day. That's more in line with professional golf and fit's when you have bigger fields and making the cut. Also allows the championship level courses to stand on their own as opposed to a mishmash of courses in an area hosting a big event. Remarkable the amount of complaints I hear about the quality of some of the courses people play when they go to big events run on many courses. Temp holes and not worthy are the biggest ones.

I think this format is way more "marketable" for sponsorship. It will be a field made up of real Pro's. We should see a consistent professional looking and acting field of players (disc golf anyways).

This should be way easier on a course, TD, and a disc golf community to run in many respects. 1 division versus 8-10 divisions. The trick is without all the AM's where is the payout going to come from? More importance on the sponsorship side. Unless they see a huge field of Pro's showing up.

I think the PDGA serves the grass routes and the smaller events. A tier and down. At the end of the day you still want a full field if you are running an event.

Also, they mention pulling the events somewhat away from all the manufacturers control. I really like this. So the manufacturers and/or those making money off of retailing to the sport will then have to put cash into sponsorship as opposed to taking your registration money and buying their product with it. It sounds small but when you add it up it's huge.
Ever see the "Callaway", "Ping", "Taylor Made", "Titleist" Pro tournaments? No. You see them sponsoring events and golfers and buying commercial time during all the events. This makes a "Tour" versus a series of "different events" forming a schedule.

If you break down "who" runs the big PDGA events you mostly see a single manufacturer behind it. What the exact benefit is for them may be debatable but I assume there is more benefit to be had or that format is limiting.

We all know they already do. I was speaking more to this part of the initial announcement.

Quote:

Many of the big disc golf tournaments are sponsored by disc golf companies. Disc golf money supporting disc golf. There is only so much to go around though. The idea of getting external support has been a common theme. How much of your time and efforts will be devoted to helping the sport grow from the outside instead of focusing internally?

The whole supporting idea behind Disc Golf World Tour is to connect this sport to outside world. We are currently at the starting point and we need to prove ourselves. That will take some time but I am sure the opportunities will come. We have a 5 year plan in place.

Only so much money to go around. Couple that with, when an event is run by a single manufacturer it limits the involvement of all the other manufacturers and therefore limits the "sponsorship" or exposure the sport can get from its top level events. That's my take on it.

Another part to my initial commentary is that I don't see discounts as true "sponsorship". In the interest of disclosure I should point out that Daredevil DID sponsor the Ontario Provincials which was awesome. They stepped up with $ in the form of discs.

If you ever dealt with other disc manufacturers their tournament programs are typically buy x at price y and receive bonus z. That means you then have to budget your registration cost to pay for the mandated and expected players packs in the PDGA formats. These programs don't necessarily work for Open players or contribute the cash pool that event promoters are trying to build for these proposed Pro events or any larger event. Again that is my take on that part and it is only in the context of the world tour being discussed.

I observe that the PDGA Pro/Am format and rules see many good golfers just stay AM because we don't see decent payouts because the prize pool is basically limited to the Open entry pool.

I personally am morally and philosophically against taking the AM registrations and making the Open payouts out of them. My preference is to have a lower AM registration fee to keep the cost appropriate for the value that AM players gets from attending that event. My preference is also to see more ability to payout at all levels of the sport and do away with this old school cash amateur status. Today athletic world and Olympics sees paid and sponsored athletes competing. Why is that even necessary? To me, a big part of it is the benefit to manufacturers when we have to produce players packs or merch outs. Not saying it is wrong. More curious to know if that is what is driving it. I think this plays into the commentary of (the PDGA is made up primarily of amateur players). The old saying (AMs pay so Pros can play). It is almost AMs pay so Pros can play and manufacturers can merch out the rest.

Seems disc golf is exploding. Best kept secret is out. I watched this happen once to skateboarding and it pushed me out. People starting getting an ego and it became more about image than anything.

Hopefully lessons have been learned and no one gets all heated about new players taking over the local course.

It is amazing how the sport has grown in the last five years. Ottawa will be next as the ultimate players get bad knees but still want to chuck discs. We need a JCP within biking distance of centertown._________________http://www.odgc.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10254

Seems disc golf is exploding. Best kept secret is out. I watched this happen once to skateboarding and it pushed me out. People starting getting an ego and it became more about image than anything.

Hopefully lessons have been learned and no one gets all heated about new players taking over the local course.

It is amazing how the sport has grown in the last five years. Ottawa will be next as the ultimate players get bad knees but still want to chuck discs. We need a JCP within biking distance of centertown.